The Way We Were: Ole Miss' Men For All Seasons Included CWS Participants
In an era of specialization, two-way athletes are becoming a dying breed. In the "good old days," a surprising number of players appeared in College World Series after also participating in basketball for their school.
An intriguing hoops connection this year involves LF Kevin Graham, Ole Miss' clean-up hitter and leader in batting average (.331 entering CWS). He supplied seven safeties in first four CWS outings to help propel the Rebels to championship round against Oklahoma. Graham is a grandson of Cal Neeman Sr. (catcher with Chicago Cubs, Philadelphia Phillies, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and Washington Senators for seven years from 1957 through 1963 after leading Illinois Wesleyan hoops in scoring in 1947-48 and 1948-49). If you need to win a sports trivia bar bet, please be aware that Neeman was a high-school basketball coach at Dupo, Ill., in the St. Louis Metro East area and one of his prep players was Dan Thomas, the 6th pick overall in 1972 MLB June amateur draft following Southern Illinois' runner-up finish in 1971 College World Series.
In legendary Hank Aaron's next-to-last MLB game, his final extra-base hit was a sixth-inning double vs. Baltimore Orioles on 9/29/76 before scoring eventual winning run on a single by Eastern League MVP/Triple Crown winner/September call-up Thomas in the Milwaukee Brewers' 6-3 victory. The tally was Aaron's final of 2,174 runs scored. His successor as the Brewers' principal DH early in 1977 was Thomas before career for "The Sundown Kid" unraveled under Bud Selig's stewardship prior to becoming MLB commissioner. Believe it or not, Thomas died in Aaron's hometown of Mobile, Ala., under distressing circumstances.
It's a small sports world, after all. In 1950, Neeman was a minor-league teammate of New York Yankees farmhand Mickey Mantle for Joplin (Class C Western Association). Pricey baseball cards from more than 60 years ago reveal Mantle earned his second of three A.L. MVP awards in 1957. In Neeman's MLB debut that same year with the Cubs on opening day against the Milwaukee Braves, he got his first big-league safety off Cy Young Award winner Warren Spahn (single to right-center; Aaron was RF). One week later, Aaron was a firsthand witness early in his lone MVP campaign to Neeman's first MLB homer (decisive 10th-inning blast off eventual World Series MVP Lew Burdette of the Braves). Coincidentally, Aaron (fractured left ankle sliding into third base) and Neeman (fractured little finger of right hand) both had their regal rookie seasons stall the first week in September because of injuries. For the record, Thomas' first big-league homer came at Yankee Stadium off Catfish Hunter (MLB's first big-money free agent). Eventual Hall of Fame shortstop Robin Yount went 2-for-18 with Milwaukee in the four games Thomas hit a round-tripper in September of 1976. Yount, the Brewers' top June amateur draft pick (3rd overall) the year after Thomas, wound up with 3,140 other safeties. Thomas' third HR came off Yankees lefthander Ken Holtzman. Unbelievably, Thomas' high school baseball coach and Neeman's assistant hoops coach was Bill Schlueter, who served as Holtzman's batterymate while attending the University of Illinois and is son of another former Illinois Wesleyan alum catcher (Norm Schlueter played three years with the Chicago White Sox and Cleveland Indians).
Incidentally, Aaron went deep against Holtzman four times over the course of his celebrated career. Getting back to Neeman, he coached Thomas in Southern Illinois high school hoops in 1968-69 against Gary Simpson (Pistol Pete's backcourt successor with Louisiana State in 1970-71), Rick Suttle (Kansas' 1974 Final Four team) and Dave Taynor (Kansas captain). Eerily, Thomas and Simpson both passed away in 1980 at the age of 29. The good die young. Brent Schoening, one of Auburn's all-time best pitchers and teammate of 17-year MLB hurler Tim Hudson for 1997 CWS club prior to becoming fifth-round pick by the Minnesota Twins in 1999 MLB amateur draft, passed away because of leukemia in 2009 at the age of 31. He was son of Ed Schoening, the former all-time leading basketball scorer for Louisiana College (1,646 points from 1968-69 through 1971-72). Adding to two-way storyline, Cal Neeman Jr. (Graham's uncle) was a basketball/baseball player for LC in 1974-75.
Amid this multi-sport mosaic, sports history buffs might want to know five of the eight 2023 CWS participants - Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Stanford, Texas and Texas A&M - had hoopers on previous CWS rosters including the following alphabetical list highlighted by long-time MLB performers Joe Gibbon and Don Kessinger from the Rebels:
| Baseball-Basketball Player | School (CWS Finish) | Baseball Summary | Basketball Summary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Bynum | Mississippi (1956/T3rd) | C was two-year letterman. | Second-leading scorer with 16.5 ppg. |
| Jimmy Clark | Texas (1963/T3rd) | INF led team with four triples. | Averaged 4.1 ppg. |
| Ron Coleman | Mississippi (1969/T5th) | Letterman was teammate of acclaimed QB Archie Manning. | Averaged 12.6 ppg. |
| Don DeLong | Stanford (1953/T5th) | Two-year letterman. | Averaged 5.2 ppg under combo coach Everett Dean. |
| John DeWitt | Texas A&M (1951/T5th) | All-SWC OF was a three-year letterman. | Total of 162 points for school's first NCAA playoff team. |
| Joe Gibbon | Mississippi (1956/T3rd) | LHP was All-SEC selection before 13-year N.L. career including 1960 World Series appearance with the Pittsburgh Pirates. | Two-time All-SEC forward had team-leading 22.1 ppg. He was nation's second-leading point producer the next season with 30 ppg, finishing ahead of first-team All-Americans Elgin Baylor and Wilt Chamberlain. |
| Tom Hamilton | Texas (1949/1st and 1950/1st) | All-American 1B became CWS MVP after contributing home run and four RBI in 1949 title game win against Wake Forest before playing briefly with Philadelphia Athletics in 1952 and 1953. | Second-leading scorer with 12.8 ppg in 1948-49 and team-high 15.1 ppg in 1949-50. |
| Don Kessinger | Mississippi (1964/T7th) | SS was an All-SEC Western Division selection leading league in batting average, stolen bases and hits before 16-year MLB career including six All-Star games. | Three-time All-SEC choice contributed team-high 23.5 ppg, finishing among league's top three scorers for second straight season. |
| Glenn Lusk | Mississippi (1964/T7th) | CF was an All-SEC Western Division selection. | Averaged 13.5 ppg. |
| Ryan Minor | Oklahoma (1994/1st and 1995/T7th) | 1B for 1994 national champion was named to All-Tournament Team before four-year MLB career featuring appearance as 3B with the Baltimore Orioles replacing Cal Ripken Jr. in lineup, ending Ripken's record of 2,632 consecutive games played. | Second-leading scorer with 16.2 ppg in 1993-94 and team-leading 23.6 ppg in 1994-95. Two-time All-Big Eight Conference choice was league player of the year as junior. |
| Charley Pugsley | Oklahoma (1951/1st) | CF in clean-up spot of order drove in decisive run in top of eighth inning in title game (3-2 over Tennessee). | Averaged 5.7 ppg. |
| Luther Scarborough | Texas (1952/T5th) | Two-year letterman as pitcher was an All-SWC first-team selection. | Averaged 1.1 ppg. |
| Fred Setser | Mississippi (1969/T5th) | P was an All-SEC Western Division selection. | Averaged 3.2 ppg. |
| Alan Talboy | Stanford (1953/T5th) | Two-year letterman. | Appeared in five games under combo coach Everett Dean. |
| Minton White Jr. | Texas (1965/T7th and 1966/T5th) | 1B was three-year letterman. | Averaged 3.5 ppg in 1964-65 and 5.4 ppg in 1965-66. |
| Mickey Williams | Mississippi (1964/T7th) | Two-year letterman. | Averaged 2.7 ppg in seven games. |
| Frank Womack | Texas (1949/1st and 1950/1st) | All-SWC LF also pitched. He was an All-SWC first-team choice in 1951. | Averaged 0.9 ppg in 1948-49 and 5.9 ppg in 1949-50. |